1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in wire dispensing apparatus, and more particularly, a wire dispensing apparatus in which wires from spools or unspooled coils may be dispensed without causing excess removal of the wire from the spool or coils during demand thereof.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Electricians are commonly required to carry a number of different types of spools of electrical wire. In wiring of an installation as, for example, in a building, many different gauges of electrical wire may be required and furthermore, wires may be color coded for different applications or connections. Usually, the spools of electrical wire are carried on racks or so-called "wire caddies" containing elongate rods for holding the center cores of wire spools. The wire caddies are designed so that they will removably hold a plurality of spools of wire so that the wire may be dispensed from the spool. However, while these wire racks are effective for transporting a plurality of spools to a given work location, they are not designed to overcome the problem "overspooling", that is, pulling an excess of wire from the spool upon demand thereof.
Where there is demand for electrical wire at a given work station, the electrician pulls wire from the spool. If excess force is used, wire will start pulling from the spool and overflow the end plates of the spool and become wound about the rod forming part of the wire rack. When the wire overflows the end plates and spools or coils on the fixed support rod, a capstan effect is created and it is necessary for the electrician to immediately stop gainful work and unwind the coiled wire on this fixed rod forming part of the wire rack and which results in unproductive downtime.
Another one of the problems commonly encountered with conventional wire racks is that the wire cannot be removed from the spool in any direction except one almost perpendicular to the spool. Otherwise, excess turns of wire will become unwound from the spool and again, become wound upon the support rod of the wire rack. Thus, if the electrician is working at a location where the wire would not be pulled in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axis of the spool, the electrician must stop the electrical wiring activity and reposition the wire rack. Moreover, each time that the electrician moves to another location, it is necessary to reposition the wire rack in order to avoid the same problem.
Electrical signal-containing wire, such as telephone wire, intercom wire and the like, is often supplied in prewound coils contained within a paperboard box. The electrician, or other user of the electrical wire of this type, merely opens a generally circular hole in the upper lid of the box along a preformed score line. A loose end of the wire is then pulled from this box in this fashion. However, the pulling of the wire in this fashion can easily result in the formation of knots in the line. When this occurs, it is almost necessary to tear the box open and remove the knot from the strand of wire, thereby effectively destroying the box for its intended purposes.
Heretofore, there has not been any wire dispensing apparatus which is effective for unspooling wire without the resultant overspooling thereof. In addition, there has not been any effective wire dispensing apparatus which permits a dispensing of wire in essentially any direction with respect to the axis of a spool of wire.
In addition to the above, there is essentially no effective mechanism whatsoever for dispensing thick gauged wire which is relatively unspoolable, that is, wire usually having a relatively thick insulation layer thereon. Wire of this type is often commercially available under the name "Romex." The same type of device which is capable of unspooling lower gauged wire is also needed for the unspooling of heavy gauged or heavy insulated wire.